Adolescence is a time of profound change, where agency and vulnerability co-exist.  So many big changes happen in such a short space of time, and often at the same time; moves up to big school, to college and university or into the world of work. Exams, puberty and heartbreak happens, friendships and family relationships change, and identities are formed.  It’s no picnic for parents and carers, either navigating risks and harms that simply didn’t exist in their own child or teenhoods; energy drinks and vapes loom larger over teenhood today than alcohol and cigarettes.  

Launched in 2007, the iPhone itself is a teenager, and the rise of the internet, smartphones and social media is the standout change for child and teenhoods, affecting every aspect of their lives, from friendships and play, to education.  This brings unprecedented levels of connectivity and access to information coupled with unprecedented risks e.g. sexual and financial exploitation and radicalisation.  We also know screentime has profound impacts - equal to that of premature birth - on children and young people’s development and their mental health.

The lives of today’s teens have been defined by global events - from the financial crash, the pandemic, and the climate crisis; and on the home front there are cost of living, housing and mental health crises, to contend with.  I worry that too many young people are losing hope for their futures and struggle to get on in life; and when they need help and ongoing support from the state, the system adds to the challenges they face.

Public services respond to incidents and aspects of their lives in isolation, with different professionals using different guidance and assessment tools to record on different systems.  These services are funded and inspected separately and report into an astonishing 10 departments and government agencies. This necessitates stories being told time and again and risks the bigger picture being lost at both an individual, and at a system level.  So, it is perhaps no surprise then that a succession of national reviews and inquiries are looking at different cohorts of teens and the harms they face, whether that’s from grooming gangs, in their mental health or neurodiversity, and finding work or leaving care.

Local efforts to join things up can’t indefinitely mitigate the fractured system the government itself has built up over time. This is evident in stop and search, where attempts to rebuild trust and strengthen accountability are constrained by national policies and wider systemic pressures that pull in opposite directions.  And, all too often where things do work well, this is down to the strength of relationships between strategic leaders and the heroic efforts of the frontline staff who care deeply about the places and communities they work both with and for, rather than the system itself. 

The realities of the current policy landscape results in confusion, duplication as well as conflicting policy drivers e.g. we continue to have an education that is measured on exam performance rather than longer term outcomes.  When the total number of “NEETs” in this country exceeds the population of Glasgow, Cardiff or Leeds, it’s clear the system “requires improvement.” Add into this mix the scale of children’s services reforms, from the schools and SEND system, to children’s social care, and right across the public sector, it is clear the need for system stewardship is more pressing and urgent than ever.

Rewiring the State and the new “devolution by default” imperative could offer a different way of doing things, locally, regionally and nationally; a remote Whitehall has long favoured one size fits all policies.  However, in the London borough I work in, children and young people’s lives, their life chances and opportunities look very different than in a rural county or a deprived costal town.  This rarely seems to be reflected in policy design nor the high expectations central government has for impact and implementation.

Better join up could also help us to act on the root causes of misery and harm e.g. income, racial, geographical, and health inequalities.  Then there’s the long tail of austerity yet to be reckoned with, which has changed the shape of our services and the fabric of our communities and young people’s lives.    

I have made it my personal mission as ADCS President to get teens on the national agenda.  The Association has now published Teenhood Matters, a policy paper which aims to capture the challenges our young people face and make the case for change.  Developing a comprehensive, long-term vision and strategy for child and teenhood is central to this, rooted in equity, inclusion, social justice and place. Our children and young people, our country, deserve nothing less.